Tuesday, November 29, 2011

It makes you wonder where the ratings agencies were back in 2007 and 2008 when the global banking system was in just as much trouble with liquidity and debt, but it appears that they may have gotten 'religion', and are finally doing the jobs most ratings agencies won't do.

Standard and Poor (S&P) gave out their pre-Christmas gifts to 37 global banks, and it looks like they got the coal in the stocking they deserved. Bank of America especially should quickly fall below $5.00 a share, perhaps as early as tomorrow.

Although most of today's analysis has been on the massive amounts of crony capitalism taking place in the Obama administration with Solyndra and other green energy monies, we cannot forget that it was former Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson who helped solidify an environment of insider information to friends while in the Bush White House.

Today, BusinessWeek's Michael Serrill and Jonathan Neumann have released a blockbuster report based on a FOIA response by the Treasury, which proves that in America rules are only for little people, that this country has been a banana republic for years, that Animal Farm was spot on, and gives excruciating detail of how Hank Paulson tipped off a select group of Goldman diaspora hedge fund managers about the eventual failure of Fannie and Freddie 7 weeks ahead of this information becoming public knowledge. The report basically is a summary of a meeting that took place at the offices of Eton Mindich's Eton Park headquarters on July 21, 2008, 7 days after his famous '“If you have a bazooka, and people know you have it, you're not likely to take it out," speech and 7 weeks before both GSEs effectively filed for bankruptcy and were put into conservatorship. - Zerohedge

For anyone who thinks that voting in a different political party to create change, your utopian hopes have been shattered. Both parties, politicians, and members who make up their cabinets have been bought and paid for long before they got to their positions, and the payoffs for that power is a crony capitalism that hasn't been seen but in Banana Republics, or empires in thieir most corrupt state of existance.

It is becoming a banner year for Nato as failure to secure Afghanistan after several years of fighting, coupled with attacks on Libya and now Pakistan have led the Muslim nation and once western ally to cutoff supply routes for NATO forces.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Sunday said that the supply of NATO has not been suspended rather it has been stopped permanently. Talking to reporters at National Crisis Management Cell of Ministry of Interior, he strongly condemned the NATO attack on Pakistani forces.

"NATO force should respect feelings of Pakistani nation." He said the nation and the government were aggrieved on the death of 24 officials of Pakistani security forces in the wake of NATO aggression on Salala post in Mohmand Agency. He said the decisions of the Defence Cabinet Committee (DCC) on the NATO forces attack inside Pakistan would be implemented in letter and spirit. "The decisions of the DCC are final and would be implemented," he added. – Pak Tribune

This decision could mean the end of allied occupation in Afghanistan even before Obama's pullout date, or worse, a decision by NATO to decide to punish Pakistan with strikes of their own.

Either way... are their enough men in European and US service to take on Iran as well... creating a 5-front conflict?

Unlike Libya and Syria, it appears that the Iranian people will not go so gently into that good night. Earlier today, Iranian students stormed and invaded the sovereignty of the British empire by entering into their Embassy in Tehran, and even taking hostages in the interim.

As we enter into the 4th year of the bursting of the housing bubble, a change in the paradigm of property management is being forged as Americans move away from home ownership and back to renting.

Just as the U.S. housing boom gave birth to such homebuyer websites as Zillow Inc. and Redfin Corp., services for rental properties are thriving following a surge in foreclosures and stiffening of mortgage standards. Membership in the National Association of Residential Property Managers has almost doubled in five years to a record 3,400 members, according to the Chesapeake, Virginia-based trade group.

“We are riding this sea change in how housing is changing in the U.S.,” said Reggie Brown, chief executive officer of All Property Management LLC, a Seattle-based Web service that sells property managers leads on homeowners who want to lease out their properties. “The only growth is rentals.”

Renter household formation surpassed new owner-occupied homes in 2007 for the first time since 1985 and has held the lead since, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. An average of 718,500 renter households a year were formed from 2007 to 2010, while owner-occupied households decreased at an average annual rate of 147,250 during the same period. - Bloomberg

More than anything, this trend proves the failure of a government policy which attempted to open up home ownership to a sector of Americans who could not afford to buy, and by doing so, created a housing bubble and credit crisis that may take a decade or more to sort out. The good side of all of this, is there are millions of new homes, some which are in the McMansion categories, that are available all around the country for a relatively decent lease rate.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Currently on Ebay, a seller is putting up for auction a Zimbabwe 100 Trillion dollar note that is signed by none other than Ron Paul.

I can imagine that if this is an actual bill signed by Congressman Paul, he got a good laugh and told those in attendance that this is the path America is headed if we continue to rely on a private Federal Reserve.

You can see the auction on Ebay by going to this link. Since the bid is up to $257, I suspect it is Ron Paul's signature that is worth the price, much more than Zimbabwe currency.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The American dream contains the end game result of being able to retire, and live out the final years of your life doing most of the things you wished you could have, but didn't have the time for during your working years.

As the scope of the economy in America has changed, and the paradigm of the American dream has been left to a bygone generation, the Economic Collapse has come out with 25 reasons why baby boomers and retirement will not be something to look forward to.

#1 According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.

#5 On January 1st, 2011 the very first Baby Boomers started to retire. For almost the next 20 years, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers will be retiring every single day.

#8 Back in 1991, half of all American workers planned to retire before they reached the age of 65. Today, that number has declined to 23 percent.

#10 According to a recent AARP survey of Baby Boomers, 40 percent of them plan to work "until they drop".

#12 A study by a law professor at the University of Michigan found that Americans that are 55 years of age or older now account for 20 percent of all bankruptcies in the United States. Back in 2001, they only accounted for 12 percent of all bankruptcies.

#14 What is causing most of these bankruptcies among the elderly? The number one cause is medical bills. According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills are a major factor in more than 60 percent of the personal bankruptcies in the United States. Of those bankruptcies that were caused by medical bills, approximately 75 percent of them involved individuals that actually did have health insurance.

#15 Public retirement funds all over the United States are woefully underfunded. For example, it has been reported that the $33.7 billion Illinois Teachers Retirement System is 61% underfunded and is on the verge of complete collapse.

#16 Most U.S. states have huge pension obligations which threaten to bankrupt them. For example, pension consultant Girard Miller told California's Little Hoover Commission that state and local government bodies in the state of California have $325 billion in combined unfunded pension liabilities. When you break that down, it comes to $22,000 for every single working adult in the state of California.

#18 According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Social Security system paid out more in benefits than it received in payroll taxes in 2010. That was not supposed to happen until at least 2016. Sadly, in the years ahead these "Social Security deficits" are scheduled to become absolutely nightmarish as hordes of Baby Boomers retire.

#20 The U.S. government now says that the Medicare trust fund will run out five years faster than they were projecting just last year.

#21 The total cost of just three federal government programs - the Department of Defense, Social Security and Medicare - exceeded the total amount of taxes brought in during fiscal 2010 by 10 billion dollars. In the years ahead expenses related to Social Security and Medicare are projected to skyrocket dramatically.

#22 The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is the agency of the federal government that pays monthly retirement benefits to hundreds of thousands of retirees that were covered under defined benefit pension plans that failed. The retirement crisis has barely even begun and the PBGC is already dead broke. The PBGC says that it ran a deficit of $26 billion during the fiscal year that just ended and that it will probably need a huge bailout from the federal government.

#24 More than 30 percent of all investors in the United States that are currently in their sixties have more than 80 percent of their 401k plans invested in equities. So what is going to happen to them if the stock market crashes?

For the younger generation who is having trouble even finding a job, today is bleak, and thoughts of retirement are not even on the radar. But for those in their 50's and early 60's, the American dream of a comfortable retirement might as well be left to the 1%ers.

First there was Occupy Wall Street, then came Occupy (insert city), which was then followed up with Bank Transfer Day, and now we have the beginning of the Occupy Student Loan movement.

Rather than string out more absurd catch lines for this crew, perhaps we should go straight to John Galt FLA's Occupy Bathroom movement!

Occupy Wall Street’s latest grievance centers on student loan programs and higher education reform, and the group’s most recent campaign involves a movement-wide boycott on student loan debt repayment. Early Monday afternoon, a crowd of faculty and student organizers assembled at the southeast corner of New York City's Zuccotti Park to announce Occupy Student Debt, a national initiative directed at recruiting student loan borrowers and requesting that they willfully default on their loan payments. The campaign consists of three pledges:

1. A refusal to make loan payments. This pledge will take effect after a million debtors have signed on to the campaign.
2. A faculty pledge of support for the "refusers."
3. A general, non-debtors' pledge of support for parents, the students and other public sympathizers – New American

More and more, the Occupy Wall Street crew is nothing more than a bunch of entitlement babies who expect everyone else to pay for their free rides, and now that they are going after student loans, should they be forced into re-programming to remove the knowledge they got at the colleges of their choice?

Gold and silver prices rose in Europe overnight, even as prices fell agains the US dollar, and JP Morgan downgrades of precious metals, and all commodities.

Gold is lower in all major currencies today except euros with euro gold having risen 0.25% to EUR 1,263/oz.

The euro came under pressure due to the surprise collapse in new Eurozone industrial orders which led to Germany failing to get bids for 35% of bunds offered. The German 10-year bund yield rose sharply from 1.92% to over 2.06%.

This is one of Germany's worst auctions since the launch of the Euro with the Bundesbank having to pick up nearly 40% of the 6 billion euros on offer.

The German auction in turn led to further weakness in European equity markets. Asian equity indices followed US equities lower after news of a new US bank stress test and then the poor Chinese manufacturing data.

Gold will be supported at these levels as the euro zone debt crisis continues to degenerate with the periphery increasingly affecting the core – leading to contagion. - Zerohedge

More than anything, gold will tell you the value of a fiat currency. If the dollar gets stronger, as it has over the past month, gold will move down. But, its indications right now of how bad the Euro and the entire Euro Zone are, should foresee much more room to grow, especially if the ECB is forced into monetization.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

A new report from the airline industry shows that holiday flying this Thanksgiving is expected to be down 2% from last year. In the meantime, driving is expected to be up 4% over the same time period, and citizens name one primary culprit as the reason for the changes.

TSA intrusions.

The Air Transport Association expects 2 percent fewer people will fly this Thanksgiving week compared with last year, while AAA projects a 4 percent increase in automobile travel.

Still, some travelers are bothered by a screening process that has become increasingly time-consuming and intimate, and industry representatives say they are worried that these frustrations are contributing to a decline in air travel.

Last week, the U.S. Travel Association released a market research study showing that while most travelers who have flown at least once in the past year are satisfied with the T.S.A.’s overall performance, frequent fliers have more complaints.

When asked to list their top frustrations with air travel, travelers chose these issues related to security: “the wait time to clear the T.S.A. checkpoint,” “having to remove shoes, belts and jackets at the T.S.A. checkpoint” and “T.S.A. employees who are not friendly.” – NY Times

Years after 9/11, and the introduction of current TSA practices, many Americans still find it more 'friendly' to drive a few extra miles to their Thanksgiving celebrations that to go through the hassle of the 'not so friendly' skies.

If there is one thing that can be said of President Obama, it is that he does not fear Congress or the repercussions of his actions. As the legislative branch continues to probe the massive loans made to campaign contributors in the Solyndra debacle, the Obama administration is set to pay out over $13 million in pseudo payoffs to workers of the now defunct company.

The Labor Department today announced that it had approved Trade Adjustment Assistance for the former employees of the bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra.

That means all of the firm’s 1,100 ex-employees are eligible for federal aid packages, including job retraining and income assistance. The department has valued packages at about $13,000 a head.

Taxpayers will have to cough up yet another $14.3 million as a result of Solyndra’s bankruptcy. They are already on the hook for $528 million in federal loan guarantees to the company that are unlikely to ever be paid back - Nation.Foxnews

President Obama has been consistent in one area during his first term in office... he knows how to payoff his friends with taxpayer money. Very few have had the galll to openly administer crony capaitalism like Obama, and then throw it in the face of the American people and Congress.

Monday, November 21, 2011

With the Congressional 'Super Committee' set to announce its failure to come up with an agreed upon plan for cuts in the budget and federal spending, the one victor in this debate is none other than gold.

Washington's latest fractious effort to come to grips with its mounting debt looks set to end in failure today as negotiators look set to announce they have failed to reach a deal.The Congressional ‘supercommittee ‘charged with cutting the US government's crushing $15 trillion debt looks set to admit failure which should support gold. – Goldcore via Zerohedge

Gold has always been a long term forecasting metal, which tells the reality of a fiat currency. As the dollar has gotten stronger recently, gold has lost nearly $80 from its recent support. That will change in the future however, as inflation and a continued devaluation in the dollar, thanks in part to the Super Committee's failure to halt out of control spending, will lead to mass inflation, and a supersonic rise in gold values in the future.

In 2008, the American people learned a new catch phrase during the credit crisis and bursting of the Housing Bubble. That term was known as 'too big to fail', and allowed the government and the Fed to use taxpayer money to bailout financial institutions that were not only created by Congressional legislation and supported oversight, but should have been allowed to fail as was the standard in the past for bankrupt companies.

Once again in 2011, the issue has proven not to have been addressed, and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) has issued a list of 29 banks that are given the gold seal of 'too big to fail'.

All of the banks and financial institutions today have offshore hedge funds, or two sets of books. When the regulators come by to do their cyclical assessments, all the toxic assets get moved to the hedge funds, or off the standard books and into a holding company, making them look solvent, or even good.

What happened perhaps with MF Global, is that they were inspected by a regulator and didn't have TIME to move their primarily accounting offshore. Thus, regulators saw the MF Global ACTUAL numbers, and TSHTF.

It also caught them red handed in a ponzi scheme... as they had been using customer money for awhile, and since most investors keep their accounts long-term, they only had to payoff individuals on an occasional basis, which meant they could channel enough money from elsewhere.

Except Corzine had leveraged the company 50-1, and bought billions in Euro trash bonds. Now, here is the REAL conspiracy theory.

No economist or financier with half a brain would be buying these, except that MF Global was a primary dealer. Guess who probably FORCED them to take on these toxic and worthless assets?

The Fed. As a means to covertly bailout the ECB, which is lockstep with the FED and all other central banks anyway. Corzine is a former head of Goldman Sachs, and pure and simply, is a tool of the central bank.

I don't know which regulator broke protocol and caught MF Global with their pants down... usually the regulators give institutions ENOUGH err... ahem... warning they are coming over, and enough time to fudge the books to offshore, but this is probably why you are not seeing any real investigations or indictments yet.

The Fed is running this show, and Obama, Geithner, and Holder and bought and paid for tooks as well of the kleptocracy.

Hedge Fund Manager Kyle Bass did an interview with the BBC recently, and in the process, showed how ignorant business reporters are regarding economics and the European crisis. Bass has made sharp and keen analysis going back before the Housing bubble, and is now betting against Germany and Japan as the next to potentially default on their debt.

You will chuckle and wring your hands at how the journalist shill keeps trying to find out how much Kyle Bass's fund made betting agains the system, and even more, how she tries to blame him and others for the current economic crisis.

Its like watching CNBC and the parrots always asking guests for stock tips over and over.

Although last night may have been 'all quiet on the Western front', oil has moved under the cover of night to shoot past $100 a barrel to hold steady at $101.59 on Wednesday morning. Added to this, the dollar has gained .20 to regain the 78 level on the dollar index.

Gold and other commodities have fallen today on dollar strength, but one has to be very surprised at oil's move, especially when a report yesterday stated that the US had ample supply for November.

Crude-oil supplies unexpectedly climbed by 1.3 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 11, the American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday. - Marketwatch

One has to guess that oil may be in play if it is moving with the dollar, and against gold and other commodities. The same can be said for Brent Crude, which has shot up several dollars in recent days as well.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Jim Sinclair recently attended attended, and provided the keynote address at the Syndey Gold symposium on November 14th. In the speech, he noted that very soon, we should see a 3rd wave in the gold markets, which should raise the value of the metal to $4500.00 an ounce after a couple of minor corrections.

You know I have great respect for Alf Fields both as a master of his methods (there are very few) but also for having a mercantile sense which cannot be taught. You know of his accuracy during the two major bull markets for gold.

I fully agree with Alf on the potential of the next move. I feel confident the accordion chop that Kenny points out did complete itself on the day of the longest predicted period of consolidation.

I see gold headed into the $2000, but only as another steep on its way to Alf’s number.

Respectfully,

Jim

The Skinny:

"Once this correction has been completed, Intermediate Wave III of Major THREE will be underway. This should be the largest and strongest wave in the entire gold bull market. The target for this wave should be around $4,500 with only two 13% corrections on the way." – JSMineset

Contrary to the recent deflationary tactics of the Fed, gold has held its own and it climbing once again after a major correction. This week alone it has crossed back over $1800, and global indicators, especially regarding US and European monitization, show that Sinclair's prediction is not out of the ballpark.

It appears that Bank Transfer Day did have a large affect on the major banks, contrary to their rhetoric. Over the last month, more than 650,000 customers moved nearly $4.5 billion dollars from larger Fed backed banks into smaller credit unions.

But there is a myth making the rounds that the big banks don’t really care if we move our money. For example, one line of reasoning is that no matter how many people move their money, the Fed and Treasury will just bail out the giants again.

…She shared that management is nervous, they are seeing money leaking out of the bank and realize that they have made mistakes…. They are also aware of the growing momentum behind the November 5th move your money movement.

Management is aware that people are angry (how could they not be!) and have put an ear to the ground. – Washington’s Blog

All one has to remember is, voting with your wallet carries just as much weight, and perhaps even more, than voting at the ballot box.

There was a time in history when economies ran as a function unto themselves. When supply and demand worked hand in hand with sound money, and trade was a mutual thing between one or more nations.

However, since the 1930's, those who listened to, and chose to follow the insane polices of John Maynard Keynes and institute government intervention to spur artificial growth in the economy, are now finding that the final step in this process is a complete takeover of the economy by the state itself.

In a new report from UBS, the rise of the state over the economy is nearly complete, and it carries itself in the form of either Fascism, Socialism, Marxism, or any combination of the three.

Governments are encroaching into more and more areas of the world economy. This is not just through political drama (as we have seen in the Euro area), nor even through the conventional mechanisms of foreign exchange intervention. Regulation (and regulatory uncertainty), sovereign wealth funds, bond market manipulation and default risks all play a role in financial markets, and all are intensely political in their nature. - UBS via Zerohedge

For years, US Presidents, or candidates running for the Presidency, have given promises that THEY can fix the economy, and right the financial ship of the nation. This is no longer simply a campaign promise, as the ability to control and regulate nearly every aspect of the markets and the economy is now contained in the myriad of government agencies under the domain of the Executive Branch.

Sometimes, cartoons as well as hollywood movies can foreshadow future events in real life. V for Vendetta pictured a George Orwell police state in Britain where cameras and recorders would view and monitor every movement of its people. Today, a large portion of those events have come to pass in London.

Now we find an older obscure GI Joe cartoon where their nemesis Cobra, has decided to bring the global monetary system to its knees by destroying the dollar and instituting the Cobra currency.

"Due to the financial irresponsibility and incompetence of your leaders, Cobra has found it necessary to restructure your nation's economy."

With Europe and the US on the precipice of monetary collapse once again, is it safe to assert that perhaps Cobra is working for the IMF in preparation of a new global currency?

Monday, November 14, 2011

How would you like to not only be allowed to invest on insider information, but in many cases, create the news and policies that benefit your investments? This is exactly what many in Congress, including Nancy Pelosi and members of both parties appear to have been doing for years based on an illegal bill Congress passed a while back exempting themselves from insider trading laws.

Is it any wonder why they have yet to pass any spending cuts in the Super Congress yet? Or that President Obama can get away with paying off friends and donors with lucrative loans and contracts like Solyndra, without any oversight?

While your 401K sinks in the markets, Congress happily makes themselves 9-15% return on their money... thanks to their own inside information.

Goldman Sachs has come out with a forecast on gold and other commodities that bears witness to much higher prices. Their assessment of a QE3 coming in 2012 leaves no doubt that low interest rates and higher inflation make the precious metals the only wealth protection available.

For what it's worth, Goldman likes gold. "Consumers: We expect gold prices to continue to climb in 2011 given the current low level of US real interest rates. Further, with our US economics team now forecasting slower US economic growth in 2011 and 2012, we expect US real interest rates to remain lower for longer, supporting higher gold prices through 2012. Consequently, we recommend near-dated consumer hedges in gold through 2012. Producers: With gold prices expected to continue to climb through 2012, we find hedging opportunities less attractive for gold producers at this time." In other news, Goldman also likes Silver, Copper, Zinc, WTI and Brent. In other words: QE3 is coming. - Zerohedge

Seeing as Goldman Sachs is a member institution of the Fed, we kind of think they have an insight into the policies to come for the dollar.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

It should come as no surprise that a media network like CNBS, which is run by Obama insider Jeffrey Immelt, would be very quick to remove any web poll that shows presidential candidate Ron Paul leading over the Rino Republicans the establishment wants to hand pick to lose against Obama.

We had a poll up from our Republican Presidential Debate asking readers who they thought won. One candidate was leading by such a margin that it became obvious the polling wasn't so much a reading of our audience, but of the Internet prowess of this particular candidate's political organization. We have therefore taken the poll down.

First of all, let’s be serious, folks! Regardless of what you might feel personally about Ron Paul or his political position, it has become painfully obvious to even the most oblivious subsections of the American populace that the MSM, from supposed “right wing” outlets like FOX, to supposed “left wing” outlets like CNBC, have gone WAY out of their way to ridicule, suppress, or completely ignore him. – Brandon Smith of Alt Market via Zerohedge

Fear... its the final frontier by which Americans can overcome the brutal rule of our Marxist masters. Alas, wouldn't it be fascinating if Ron Paul won the nomination and got to take on the great Teleprompter in Chief on actual issues, which we know would be a very unfair contest for the poor President.

Berkeley, California has always been the home of radicals, liberals, and students who would rather find a cause than turn in homework. So it is very interesting that the local police force would turn to brutality on the students of Occupy Berkeley when these types of protests have been occurring for decades.

Maybe the 'useless idiots' can suddenly come to the realization that their belief in a marxist or socialist state no longer has any room for them at the table now that they are in power.

Oh, those whacky Occupy Wall Street thugs and well doers. All those speeches about the 99%ers, and how its the 1% rich who are the real crooks and thieves appear to be just rhetoric for victims and thugs to co-mingle out in a park and try to appeal to the ignorant masses that they are simply being kept down by the man.

And like the recent stories about physical and sexual abuse by the groups on women, we can now add violence and property damage to businesses around the parks where the Occupy people expect everyone to give them anything they want.

A business owner near the Occupy Wall Street encampment claims she has been repeatedly harassed and threatened with bodily harm by protesters after she and her employees refused to give in to their outlandish demands.

She and her employees are terrified by the constant threats, which she said began after she demanded the protesters stop using her shop’s restroom as a place to bathe every day.

The final straw came about two weeks ago, when the demonstrators broke a bathroom sink, flooding the shop, and clogged the toilet -- setting her back $3,000 in damages. – New York Post

As time passes, more and more the poor desperate 1%ers show their true selves and for many, they are simply thugs, victims, and welfare bums who's sole purpose is not to work for their subsistance, but to take from others and expect everyone to appease them.

There was one primary reason the Obama administration chose to send money and support to the Libyan conflict earlier this year, and it had little to do with overthrowing a brutal dicator. Certain clues in the rebel camp screamed out the primary purpose for Europe and the US to send troops, aircraft, drones, and even advisors to the conflict that took place over the summer.

Libya was one of only five nations remaining who did not have a privately owned central bank. Now there are only three.

North Korea, Iran, and Cuba. And guess who immediately became target number one after Gadhafi was killed? Iran.

As of the year 2000, there were seven countries without a Rothschild-owned Central Bank:

Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Cuba, North Korea, Iran

Then along came the convenient terror of 9-11 and soon Iraq and Afghanistan had been added to the list, leaving only five countries without a Central Bank owned by the Rothschild Family:

Sudan, Libya, Cuba, North Korea, Iran

We all know how fast the Central Bank of Benghazi was set up.

The only countries left in 2011 without a Central Bank owned by the Rothschild Family are:

In fact, Cuba has just begun looking into Free Market capitalism for small businesses just this past week, and should this grow, the potential of their being integrated into the global banking cartel is simply one leader with a need for cash away.

There were 11 banks that closed their doors in the month of October, but it appears there was a major difference between these banks, and the 74 that had shutdown earlier in the year. Whereas the primary cause for most of those banks to fail was residential loans and mortgages, these new banks were instrically tied to commercial real estate.

Trepp’s report looks at the October failures and the makeup of each bank’s portfolio to ascertain nonperforming loan attribution. The company’s analysts found that commercial real estate exposure was the main driver behind problem loans for the banks that went under in October.

Commercial real estate loans comprised $401 million (65.1 percent) of the total $617 million in nonperforming loans at the failed banks. Construction and land loans made up $254 million while commercial mortgages comprised $147 million of the total nonperforming pool. - DSNews

For many observers and analysts, this is the final shoe that the real estate markets have been watching for to drop. The commerical real estate industry is much larger than the residential one, and if the trend is headed towards massive drawdowns and non-performing loans, the number of banks that could very quickly fail would jump into the dozens or even hundreds.

With the growing scandal for Job Corzine grows in his work at bankrupt MF Global, the question of whether the Obama Administration would actually seek prosecution against his former campaign contributer seemed unlikely despite the growing evidence.

Now it almost appears improbable. Especially with the news that after the bankruptcy hit last week, President Obama is holding a fundraising dinner at the behest of the primary lawyer for the MF Global bankruptcy.

Monday night, Obama will attend a private fundraiser hosted by Dwight Bush, president of Urban Trust Bank, and his wife Antoinette, a partner at the international law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, and Flom. Skadden is the firm hired to handle the bankruptcy of MF Global, the large Wall Street firm headed by Jon Corzine, former governor of New Jersey and a strong ally of President Obama.

Hey Occupy Wall Street... it's about time to move over to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue if you truly want to find the 1%er who is keeping the rich safe and secure from the same justice system that puts you in jail.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Early reports are coming in from banks and Credit Unions who found a groundswell of new business thanks to the organized Bank Transfer Day event on November 5th.

Thousands of people flooded into credit unions and small banks over the weekend as part of "Bank Transfer Day," an effort to prod depositors to abandon giant banks. But at least some of the big banks won't mind losing those customers.

On Saturday, the Boeing Employees' Credit Union in Seattle signed up a one-day record 659 new members. At the grand opening of a Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union branch in Pflugerville, Texas, the parking lot was so full that customers had to leave their cars across the street.

Dozens of people opened an account at the Texas credit union as a local disc jockey gave away prizes. "They'll treat me like a good customer," said Charlie Estes, 33 years old, who pulled his life savings out of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank as measured in assets. J.P. Morgan declined to comment. – Wall Street Journal

In the end, voting with your wallet can do great things, and on occasion, work better than voting at the ballot box, or the ammo box.

After the nice pullback for Gold in September and early October, many investors were wondering if the drops were a signal to the end of the gold bull, or at worst, if deflation was truly on the global financial landscape.

One nation however, gleefully rubbed their hands at their good fortune, and bought and bought, and bought at the lower prices. China, which normally purchases around 10 tones per month, increased their buying to 140 tons between July and the end of September.

Data from the Hong Kong government showed that China imported a record 56.9 tonnes in September, a sixfold increase from 2010. Monthly gold imports for most of 2010 and this year run at about 10 tonnes, but buying jumped in July, August and September. In the three-month period, China imported from Hong Kong about 140 tonnes, more than the roughly 120 tonnes for the whole 2010. - FT

So, as hedge funds sell off their only profitable asset to cover their equity, bond, and debt losses, China simply says "Thank you", and happily picks up the leavings of the western financial institutions.

As Iran steps onto the precipice of being a nuclear power, the threat of retaliation by Israel, the US, or even NATO is causing the European oil markets to rise, and Brent to begin skyrocketing upwards.

Oil support, sanctions and attacks: Oil should get more support and take the Brent-WTI spread back toward $20 given the broken nature of that market. The first move may be to sanction the Central Bank of Iran, cutting oil exports and dividend repatriation (negative for MTN and the like). Russia and China will push back on this toward the end of the month, increasing the probability of an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities late November/December, which we upgraded to 40% a month ago. - IAEA

By the world leaders waiting and waiting for Iran to break resolution and resolution, it appears the world's energy markets are now paying the price for failed leadership, and the inevitable war that is soon to take place in the Middle East.

The CME's Friday night, and later Saturday clarification of margin limits to MF Global accounts that were transferred to them after the primary dealer folded may have helped save some account holders who were transferred over to their institution, but it appears the other investors weren't so lucky. Account holders who were summarily transferred to entities such as RJ O'Brien, are being forced into a margin call because of the lack of equity MF Global sent out for their customers to cover their accounts.

If you are a former MF Global account and you have your account transferred over to RJ O'Brien, or many others, you will have no choice but to fork out a bunch of cash to keep positions on, according to a statement awaiting all such accounts on the RJO website, or else be next in line for broad liquidations. To wit: "Former MF Global customers transferred to R.J. O’Brien were delivered with approximately 75% of the maintenance margin requirement related to their accounts. As a result, every former MF Global account faces a margin call. No excess equity was transferred." - Zerohedge

it is truly coming down to the point where paper investments not only aren't worth the paper they are printed on, but even holding it can end up costing you more than your investment.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Ahhh... it's good to be part of the 1%. Even when you allegedly steal from your customers, or commit a financial crime there is always another one of your 'buds' to swoop in and save the day.

Kind of like how Sandy Burger got away with taking classified information from a Federal building and was never prosecuted for it.

News has just come out that JP Morgan is now claiming they are 'holding' the money for the individual account holders that was allegedly used by MF Global and Jon Corzine to make purchases of Euro toxic assets.

Last week we heard of glitches which resulted in Germany finding $55.5 billion in missing "debt" and several billion in Irish debt. It was only a matter of time before MF Global also uncovered a "glitch"

MF ACCOUNT WITH $658.8M IN CLIENT FUNDS SAID TO BE AT JPMORGAN

MF GLOBAL'S MISSING CLIENT FUNDS SAID TO BE LOCATED AT JPMORGAN

Ignore the fact that MF admitted it had commingled and abused client funds. After all, the big boys take care of their own. And what is $660 million to JPM? Here's what - less than the taxpayer money profit the bank makes on one POMO. - Zerohedge

Now you know why the 1%ers can play by rules the common man has no ability to follow. Steal $100, go to jail. Steal $100 million and you receive a severance package.

Today's job report of 90000 new jobs created, and the drop in the unemployment rate from 9.1% to 9.0 were simply fake window dressing that even the markets did not accept as good news (Dow opened up -70 points). In fact, the birth/death adjustment ended up being more than the actual net jobs created, which tells you the Labor Department had to scramble to even make the report positive.

However, the underlying issue still remains the 9% unemployed, the 16% TRULY unemployed, and the dire fact that the US would need to create 262,500 jobs per month through 2016 just to get back even with December of 2007.

"Every few months we rerun an analysis of how many jobs the US economy has to generate to return to the unemployment rate as of December 2007 when the Great Financial Crisis started, by the end of Obama's potential second term in November 2016. This calculation takes into account the historical change in Payroll and includes the 90,000/month natural growth to the labor force, and extrapolates into the future. And every time we rerun this calculation, the number of jobs that has to be created to get back to baseline increases: First it was 245,500 in April, then 250,000 in June, then 254,000 in July [then 261,200 in October]. As of today, following the just announced "beat" of meager NFP expectations, this number has has just risen to an all time high 261,200 262,500. This means that unless that number of jobs is created each month for the next 5 years, America will have a higher unemployment rate in October 2016 than it did in December 2007. - Zerohedge

And there appears to be no question today on the floor of the exchanges of how meaningless today's job report is. But to the American people, it is a another month of hopium and delerium that will make for a very disappointing Christmas season.

As the MF Global fraud and theft scandal continues to grow, the MF Global board of directors asked for, and received Jon Corzines resignation, to be made without a golden parachute and the earlier reported $12 Million dollar severance.

"The Board of Directors of MF Global Holdings Ltd. announced the resignation of Jon S. Corzine from all posts at MF Global. Mr. Corzine has confirmed that he will not seek severance payments in connection with his resignation. Edward L. Goldberg, the lead director of the Board of Directors, and Bradley I. Abelow, the Company¹s President and Chief Operating Officer, will continue in their current positions." - Zerohedge

Now the real question remains... will Obama's campaign contributor buddy ever be held criminally liable and face indictments for stealing accountholders money and using it to bets on toxic Euro bonds?

The scandal that is beginning to engulf Herman Cain is bringing out the journalists in droves. Of course, the key thing to note is that the charges of sexual harrassment are against a Republican, and the hypocrisy of fairness is staggering.

News Busters has done an expose of the way the media has gone after Herman Cain and compared it to the coverage of not one, but three sexual harrassment scandals against Bill Clinton, and the results are nothing short of laughable.

Whether the evidence against Herman Cain is valid has yet to be determined, and if any or all is true, then of course he should be held accountable to explain to refute the allegations. However, what is certain is that the media is nothing but a propaganda machine that self-determines which candidates are subject to negative scrutiny, and which ones are to be protected at all costs.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Numerous reviews of Goldline by consumers showed the company that used media mogul Glen Beck as their primary sponser was indicted today with 19 criminal counts.

A California-based precious metals seller Goldline International, promoted by pseudo-conservative talk radio hosts like Glenn Beck, was charged with 19 criminal counts on Tuesday by Santa Monica’s City Attorney’s Office.

Goldline was reportedly using aggressive telemarketing tactics employing highly questionable methods to pressure customers into buying overpriced coins as early as 2010 as revealed in a Mother Jones investigative report.The report revealed that Goldline was pressuring customers into buying marked up coins on a regular basis which were so wildly overpriced that customers would likely never make their money back. – End the Lie

There are plenty of reputable gold, silver, and metals dealers out there, and buying something based on the endorsement of a celebrity (George Foreman excluded), doesn't always mean your interests will be looked out for.

For years, the FDA has blatently allowed Big Pharma to issue falsified studies of drugs and other pharmaceuticals that have been proven to be harmful or evasive to reach the markets for human consumption, and now you can add the CDC to that list.

In a shocking discovery through a Freedom of Information request, the Centers for Disease Control willfully and deliberately manipulated data from a study that shows the connection between vaccines and autism, and even after clarification requests, falsified the original study to push through the safety of child vaccines.

Deniers of the link between mercury-laden vaccines and autism are going to have a hard time denying the latest findings by the Coalition for Mercury-Free Drugs (CoMeD). The nonprofit group has obtained critical documents via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that exposes the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) role in deliberately lying about and manipulating a key Danish study that showed a clear link between vaccines containing mercury and autism.

According to the documents, CDC officials removed large amounts of data from the study that showed a decline in autism rates following the removal of Thimerosal. The agency then twisted the remaining data to imply an increase in autism rates following the removal of Thimerosal, and suggested that there was no link between Thimerosal and autism.

Upon submission of the CDC's tainted version of the study to Pediatrics, the study's authors contacted CDC officials to let them know that the agency had incorrectly interpreted the data. They tried to tell the CDC that its figures and conclusions were wrong, and that corrections needed to be made.

The CDC allegedly responded by saying that it would take a look at the incorrect data, but proceeded to submit the corrupted version of the study to Pediatrics anyway. After encouraging the editors of Pediatrics to perform an expedited review of the corrupted study, the CDC ended up convincing the journal to publish the fraudulent study, which it did in 2003. – Alliance for Natural Health

Simple logic and a few minutes of research can bring about great understanding to many of the lies and myths now part of the mainstream paradigm used to sell more drugs. Along with the fact that autism and ADHD began to accelerate after 1972 when thermisol and mercury based vaccines were pushed onto the market and onto children, other illnesses such as skin cancer and breast cancer accelerated after the creation of aluminum based sunscreens in the 1950's, and synthetic birth control and hormones during the same era.

Karl Denninger and the Market Ticker Forum are holding a one day strike on November 2nd to protest Wall Street and government regulatory corruption. His website, which receives several thousand visitors per day, has shutdown updates and operations to promote a single message to the powers that be.

Interesting concept here... commit no taxable event today, which pretty much entails spending $0 dollars in the economy, could actually be a much better protest than a bunch of drug users and rapists camping in a park in the confines of Manhattan.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

It had to happen eventually. Unorganized people gathering in a park for long stretches of time with nothing more than a hatred for the success of others has now turned into a mob rules, drug infested camp where theft, drug use and even rape has become commonplace amongst the unwashed masses.

Interviews with some of the OWS crew have validated this, as seen in the video below.

Additionally, it has been reported that a handicapped deaf man was raped by members in the park.

Q: You said a deaf guy was raped?

A: Yeah…

Q: Did the guy, I mean, do these, did that get reported to the police, or did that stay inside the camp?

It should come as no surprise, as the riots of the 1960's, 70's, and the Rodney King destruction brings out the worst form of human behavior when people come together to protest over materialism, not ideas.

Commodities broker Ann Barnhardt (yes, the one of the pink assault rifle fame) laid out a scenario on October 31st that intimates that Jon Corzine may have used MF Global as a hedge fund to help profit Goldman Sachs at the expense of their account holders.

4. Speaking of Corzine, more info is coming out in the bankruptcy filings. First, Corzine stands to reap a $12.1 million severance package / golden parachute per the bankruptcy filing. But that isn't the worst. Corzine was hired by MF less than two years ago. He promptly went about loading the company up on European bonds. That in and of itself is damning enough. Remember, Corzine is Goldman Sachs. He knew EXACTLY what was going on in Europe and he knew that European paper was junk. But guess which European countries he loaded up on? Greece, Portugal, Italy and Ireland. The four little PIIGs. Corzine intentionally drove MF into the ground so that someone, and my money is on Goldman Sachs, could come in and buy the remains for 30 cents on the dollar or less. Watch the news. Watch and see who ends up buying the remnants of MF. If it isn't Goldman outright, I'll bet it is a "holding company" that is tied to Goldman. As an astute commenter over at ZeroHedge.com said last night, it looks like Corzine never really stopped working for Goldman. He just moved his office into MF Global's suite. - TFMetalsReport

Corzine's track record for leadership is abysmal. Not only was a Goldman man from the beginning, but his tenure as Govenor of New Jersey helped bankrupt the state, and now, just two years into being employed by MF Global, the institution is itself bankrupt, and it appears that massive foul play may be involved with hundreds of millions of dollars in customer accounts simply disappearing.